Painful Truth
by AlltimeFictionReader
Summary: It started out as a normal day. Fighting ghosts, skipping class: the usual. But that night things take a turn for the worse, and Danny doesn't know how to get out of the mess he is in. Will he get the help of his friends before it's too late, or will he give in before they get the chance.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Danny Phantom Fanfic so enjoy! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you like it, too.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom, because if I did there would be another season.**

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"It  
is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our  
eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she  
transforms us into beasts... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may  
cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide  
for it." -Patrick Henry

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I looked through the glass-like wall, trying to see through the heat waves rising up from the floor. My own sweat pooled beneath me in a puddle as the sweltering heat surrounded me. The phase-proof enclosure I was in prevented me from escaping the heat. I was on my knees now, trying to breathe the hot, still air. I looked up once more, before my vision went black, my burning body sinking into the depths of unconsciousness.

That morning…

I woke up and looked at my clock, which stated in bold red numbers that I had overslept… again. School had started a few hours ago, and I would get in big trouble if my parents found out I was still here. Of course, the chances of that happening were slim considering they were working on a new invention in the lab. They wouldn't come up from the basement for a while. I got ready for school and ran down the stairs. I was about to get some breakfast, but then realized I didn't want my food to glow green, grow teeth, and eat me. It was better to wait until lunch. I needed to get to school quickly, so I wouldn't get in trouble any more than was necessary. I went ghost, rings circling around me, my black hair turning white, and my clothes changing into my trademark jumpsuit. I phased through the walls of Fentonworks and flew to school. I didn't meet any ghosts on the way, so I got to class quickly. Luckily, it was lunchtime so I walked into the cafeteria, and looked for black clothes and a red beret. I spotted Tuck and Sam in our usual corner.

"Where have you been?!" Sam yelled, though I could hear the concern in her voice.

"Fighting ghosts," I said, not wanting to admit I overslept. I was up fighting ghosts until the early hours of the morning so I must have slept through my alarm, but I know she wouldn't approve of that. She looked at me suspiciously, but asked nothing else. "So what did I miss?" I asked.

"Like, four tests," Tuck said," You have a lot to catch up on.

Great, because that was exactly what I needed, more work.

"It could be worse, a least you are not being attacked by ghosts..." Tucker said.

"TUCKER!" Sam and I yelled in unison.

"Bad Luck Tuck, you just jinxed us!" Sam exclaimed.

"Hey, don't call me that, you know I hate it!" Tucker argued.

"Exactly," Sam said.

Right on cue Skulker burst through the wall, sending students screaming and rubble flying through the air.

"Ghost Child, I know you in here," Skulker said, trying to be intimidating," I have come to hang your pelt on my wall."

"Thanks, Tuck, if my pelt ends up on his wall you're taking the blame," I said as I phased through the wall leading Skulker away from the school.

We didn't get far when I heard someone yell," Stop right there ghost, you're not getting away this time!"

Suddenly I was blasted to the ground covered in green slime. When I looked up Skulker had gone, leaving me to face some very familiar ghost hunters, my parents. They stood ten feet away, waiting for me to move. Not about to give them the chance to hit me again, I turned intangible and sunk into the ground. I then got farther away, came up through the pavement and headed to school. When I got there class had started, so I changed back in the deserted halls, and went to class. I got a tardy slip, and was warned that if it happened again I would get detention. How I didn't have detention already was beyond me. The rest of the day went by slowly, the clock seeming to move in slow motion. Finally the last bell rang, and I walked from school to the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tuck. We hung out and studied, since I had to make up some tests tomorrow and I couldn't afford to fail. When it got dark I left, waving good bye to my friends as we headed separate ways. When I got opened the door to my house, my parents were in the kitchen talking excitedly. "Did something happen?" I asked.

"We have made a scientific breakthrough!" Mom exclaimed.

I zoned out after that, used to them carrying on about ghosts and things like that. Once they were too engrossed in their conversation to see me slip away, I headed to my room, exhausted from all the ghosts I had fought in the past week. I went to bed, dreading the tests I had to take tomorrow.

I woke up suddenly, sensing something was wrong. I opened my eyes, and I realized I was in some kind of glass-like room. It was about five feet by five feet, with a solid metal floor. I was facing a metal wall, like the one in my parent's lab. Wait…lab? That wasn't good. I looked down and realized I had transformed into Danny Phantom before I woke up. I turned around and saw that two sides of the room around me were clear, and the other sides were made up by two walls. I must be in the corner of some lab. I looked out and saw tables, test tubes, the Specter Speeder. The specter speeder… that means that my parents had something to do with this! I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and saw Maddie come into the lab.

"Hello Phantom, surprised," She said, sounding very pleased with herself. "I am going to do a few tests. Oh, by the way, like your containment unit?" she said, enjoying every moment of this. "It is completely phase-proof, and none of your ghost power can penetrate it. On with the first test, let's see how much heat you can withstand," she said, as she pulled a lever close to the containment unit. Vents opened up in the floor and I could feel heat escaping from them. It was bearable for a while, but then I started to get too hot, the temperature rising fast. Soon enough, I was in agony.

I looked through the glass-like wall, trying to see through the heat waves rising up from the floor. My own sweat pooled beneath me in a puddle as the sweltering heat surrounded me. The phase-proof enclosure I was in prevented me from escaping the heat. I was on my knees now, trying to breathe the hot, still air. I looked up once more, before my vision went black, my burning body sinking into the depths of unconsciousness.

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**I will post the second chapter this week. Please read and review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**The next chapter is here, Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom:(**

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Waking up in the morning knowing you have to go to school is pure torture. –unknown

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I opened my eyes, and looked around. I was lying on my bed, drenched in sweat. Wait, in my bed? What happened to the lab? Images of last night popped into my head. Was it all a dream? It just felt so real. Before I could think about it anymore, Jazz burst into my room.

"Get up Danny, you'll be late for…wow, you look horrible," Jazz said in a worried tone.

"It was just a bad dream," I said before Jazz could say anything else. Of course, this just caused her to worry more.

"You know, if you want to talk about your dream we can. It could mean something…" Jazz continued, going on and on about my health.

She has read way too many psychology books. I finally managed to get past Jazz and head downstairs. I got a cup out of a cupboard, and turned on the sink. I put the cup under the faucet, and filled it up as full as I could get it. I drank cup after cup, trying to satisfy my thirst. I may not know if last night was real, but it sure felt like it. I was covered in sweat, extremely thirsty, and I felt like I was burning up. I went and took an ice cold shower to cool me down, and then went to school.

Nothing exciting really happened in the morning, except for me having to take a few missed tests from yesterday (not that taking tests is, in any way exciting). At lunch I talked with Sam and Tuck, but didn't mention anything about last night. I wasn't even sure of what happened, so I had my doubts about telling them. If it happened again I would, but until then…

After lunch, nothing happened either, besides Mr. Lancer being exceptionally happy that I was on time for class and I didn't leave once. I didn't pay attention though, as I was still immersed in thought about the heat experiment. The more I thought about it, the more I knew that it really happened. The question wasn't if it happened, it was why am I here and not in the lab. After the last bell rang, I went straight home to look for answers. When I arrived at the house I dropped my backpack on the floor and ran straight to the lab. I was halfway down the stairs when my Dad slammed into me, caused me to fall down.

Looking down, my dad said," Sorry Danny, you can't come down right now, your mother is very busy with an invention. She even kicked me out! Well, see you Danny, I'm going to get some fudge."

That definitely was bad. I couldn't go down and see if the containment unit was still there, and my mom could be working on some horrible invention that she would use to experiment on me. This day just couldn't get any worse. **Ding Dong!** I went and answered the door, to find myself staring at Vlad. I think this day was made to torture me.

"Daniel, how nice to see you!" Vlad said with fake cheerfulness.

"V-MAN!" my dad shouted as he came up behind me.

"Jack…" Vlad trailed off, his smile fading," I just came to invite you over to my house for the four day weekend Daniel and Jasmine have off school."

I had completely forgotten about that. Today's Wednesday so I have school tomorrow and then I have Friday and Monday off of school. I would normally be very happy, but if I have to go to Vlad's mansion, he will try to make the weekend the worst one imaginable.

"So, where is Maddie?" Vlad asked.

"She's in the lab working on something and she will need to stay here for a few days, so I guess it's just you, me, and the kids!" Dad said excitedly.

Vlad looked less than thrilled to hear that, but couldn't take back the offer for the trip. My Dad wouldn't have listened anyway. "Well, I'll be up in my room, while you talk about the trip," I said, trying to get away from Vlad. I ended up falling asleep in my room because I was exhausted from barely getting any sleep the night before.

I, once again, woke up in the lab, the bright lights hurting my eyes. I tried to move my arms, but I felt metal pressing against my wrists. I looked down and saw that I was hanging from the wall of the containment unit, my wrists held by chains. I tried to phase through them, but nothing happened. A hole opened up in the clear side of the containment unit, and my mom walked through.

"Lucky for you, the device I designed to keep you here will only work for a few hours at a time. I plan to fix that soon, but in the meantime I want some answers," she said, while holding a remote with a red button on it.

In general, red buttons are a bad sign. I had a feeling that this was going to be the red button I would come to hate the most in these next few hours.

"First question, why do you fight your own kind?" she asked.

"Um, so I can protect the people of this town," I said, though I had thought that would be something she already knew. She looked down at the red button for a moment, and put her finger on it, but didn't push it. She didn't like my answer but she decided to go onto the next question, instead of dwelling on it.

"How long have you been a ghost?" she asked.

"A little longer than a year."

"how did you die?"

I didn't know if I wanted to tell her that or not. If I say electrocution, she might start connecting the dots back to the human half of me when I turned on the ghost portal. Before I had a chance to decide what to say, see pressed the button. A few moments later, electricity was conducted through the chains that held me to the wall. I felt pain course through my body starting at my hands and making its way down. My fingernails dug into my palm as I clenched my fists. In my mind, I was replaying the night I turned on the portal for the first time. This was the same pain in a reduced way. It felt like hot knives digging into every part of me. I couldn't escape the pain. I started screaming at one point, and so my mom thought I had had enough. I let my head hang down after it stopped, my mind replaying the scene over and over again. My own mom electrocuted me. Right at that moment, the thought crossed my mind about revealing who I really was so she wouldn't torture me anymore. I quickly decided I wouldn't, who knows what she would do if she found out.

She asked another question, but I couldn't hear. All I could do was think about getting out of here. I soon fell asleep, exhausted by the painful and sleepless night.

When I woke up I was in my own bed again like the morning before. My throat was sore from screaming, my mouth tasted like blood, and there was dried blood on my hand where my fingernails had pierced my skin. It was all from the electrocution. I felt numb all over. On top of all that, I had to go to school today.

When I arrived at school, I saw Sam and Tucker near the entrance. I started to head over to them to tell them what happened when I heard a voice behind me say," Hello, Daniel." I turned around to see Vlad walking toward me, a smug grin on his face. That's never a good sign.

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**Thank you to everyone who is taking their time to read this! I hoped you like the chapter. In these kind of fanfics I know electrocution is used a lot, but I needed to add it in for some events in later chapters. The next chapter will be up in a few days. **


	3. Chapter 3

**The third chapter is up! Sorry, I was late, but you probably don't want to listen to all my excuses... On with the story!**

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Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word."

― George R.R. Martin

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As Vlad walked over, I looked towards Sam and Tuck. I had hoped they would look this way and see Vlad coming toward me. If they had been looking they would have come over, but today definitely wasn't my lucky day. They were completely absorbed in an argument about Tucker's hat. Sam waved it over her head while Tucker jumped up to reach it. Before I could yell to get their attention, an icy hand forcefully grabbed my shoulder. I looked up to find Vlad's eyes staring into mine, as cold and cruel as ever. His menacing smile foreshadowed that he had some horrible news to tell me. With all that was going on, a visit from my archenemy was not helping right now. I already had to spend the weekend with him.

"Daniel, how nice it is to see you!" he said, putting every ounce of fake cheerfulness he had into the sentence.

"I'm not in the mood for games." I said annoyed.

"Well, we will have to get right to the point then," Vlad said, his tone changing from cheerful to downright cruel, "You were just about to tell your friends what has been happening to you, weren't you."

"How did you know about that?" I said, unable to mask the surprise in my voice.

Vlad laughed ominously and continued," Who do you think funded Maddie with the money to buy the containment unit? Who do you think gave her the opportunity to capture the famous Danny Phantom?"

"Why would you do that?" I whispered, my mind still processing the last sentence," What would you have to gain from that?"

"I would have everything to gain, Daniel. Maddie would be forever grateful that I helped her capture Phantom. I would get all the information about you, and be able to finally make a successful clone. It would give me everything I wanted and you can do nothing about it. Oh, and one more thing. You better not tell your friends anything or I will expose your secret on live television. I just love cold, hard evidence," he concluded.

As he finished talking, a limo pulled up to the curb and Vlad hopped in.

"I am sure we are going to have a nice time this weekend," he said through an open window.

He rolled up the window as the limo sped off, the tires leaving skid marks. I just stared at the marks; the smell of burnt rubber hung in the air. He probably planned to take me to that containment unit in my parents' lab over the weekend. The only solution I could think of was to not go. He may come and look for me, but at least I wouldn't be trapped in that mansion of his, forced to do whatever he tells me.

The bell rang as I finished the thought. Great, I had just had the worst conversation of my life and I was late for class. This week definitely wasn't going as planned. I walked slowly up the steps leading to the school's main entrance. I opened one of the double doors and walked into the school. I was in no hurry to get to class, knowing I was already late. I wandered around school aimlessly until the bell rang to go to second period. Knowing I couldn't face Sam and Tuck the whole entire day without telling them something, I looked for someplace to hide from them as well as any teachers who would force me to go to class. I found a dusty, old janitor's closet and walked in, closing the door behind me. It was dark and the air was thick with the smell of mold and mildew. No one had been here in a while. It was the perfect place to hide, as long as the box ghost didn't come and try to hit me with any of the boxes scattered across the room. The tardy bell rang and the hall cleared of people, leaving only the sound of my breathing and the ticking of a long forgotten clock somewhere in the room. Soon after the bell rang, I felt myself drifting to sleep. The clock's hypnotic sound was only helping me fall asleep. I was so exhausted from two nights of torture; I couldn't help but submit to the urge to sleep.

_I looked around. I am in lab. Wires cross the floor. The ghost portal isn't its usual swirly green. It is metal with the wires and the on and off switch displayed. Mocking me to come. I hear Sam's voice. "Come on Danny, I dare you to go in." I hear laughter. They don't know what is about to happen. I hear a zipper. I look down and see my hand zipping up a jumpsuit. White and black. I see Sam as she rips off my dad's face from the suit. At least I had that to be thankful for. I take a step towards the portal, unable to resist. I step over each wire carefully until I make it halfway into the portal. I am excited. Well, I was then. But not now, when I know the outcome. My concentration slips as I took a step forward. I should have been more careful. I reach for the wall, only to hit the on switch. With a flash, pain went through my body. Unimaginable pain. Searing through my body. I screamed. And screamed. And then everything went black._

**Danny! Danny**! Someone was yelling my name. I opened my eyes and was blinded for a moment as light from an open doorway poured into my eyes. **Are you okay? **I opened my eyes again to see black shapes standing in front of me. Sam and Tucker. "Hey guys, what time is it?" I asked, as if everything was okay.

"What happened Danny? We heard someone screaming bloody murder. We came as fast as we could," Sam said, worry apparent in her tone.

I got up slowly. I was drenched in sweat. Like the night of the first experiment. I shuddered at the memory. "I'm fine. What time is it?" I asked trying to calm down.

"School just ended," Tucker said.

"Don't you guys have to go on vacation with your families for the four day weekend," I asked.

"Well… yeah, but are you okay? Why did you stay in here all day? Something is wrong. I know it," Sam concluded, sounding just like Jazz had two mornings ago.

"I'm fine. I will tell you everything Monday, okay. Let's just relax over the weekend," I said. I tried to keep the nervousness out of my voice. I definitely wasn't relaxing this weekend. I got up out of the closet just in time to see Jazz heading down the hall toward me.

"Where have you been? We have to go to Vlad's now, he is picking us up.

"VLAD!" Sam and Tucker both exclaimed.

"Jazz, I'm not going," I stated as I started walking the opposite direction as Jazz.

"But… but Danny. Vlad will track you down! He has to have some reason for inviting us and it most likely has something involved with you," Jazz said, basically begging me to come with her.

"And that's exactly why I'm not going!" I shouted as I went ghost and flew out of the school. I flew around town until after dark, watching out for Vlad the whole time. I flew to my house, turned human, and walked in the door. My mom was there, making dinner for herself.

"Danny, I thought you went to Vlad's. Why are you here?" she asked.

"Um, I wanted to spend the weekend with you," I said quickly, making up an excuse.

"You can do that, but I do have a lot of things to do in the lab… but if you are here anyway do you want to see what I'm working on?

Before I had time to answer, she pulled me downstairs. I froze when I saw the containment unit. I shivered at the thought of what it had in store for me tonight. Mom quickly pushed me over to a desk next to the unit.

"You see this button?" she said, pointing to a blue, square button on the side of the unit above the desk.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak at the moment.

"Every time I press it, I can teleport Phantom here," she said reaching for the button.

That was not what I expected the button to be. I thought it would be another torture device. Time seemed to go in slow motion as she reached to push the button. I was frozen. I was in shock. My mind screamed for me to run out of the lab so my secret wouldn't be revealed, but my body wouldn't move. Two inches away from the button. One inch away. How would she react when she found out?

Just as she was about to press the button, a voice said," Maddie… Daniel?"

She stopped. We both turned around slowly. I found myself for the second time that day, looking into Vlad's cold, glaring eyes.

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**Please review if you have the time, I would love feedback on the story! Thank you to all the reviewers last chapter! I will have no computer access until the 16th of July, so I will not be able to put up another chapter until then. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I finally got this chapter up! I am sorry for taking so long, but I have had a busy couple of weeks.**

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I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference.

-Greta Garbo

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Just as she was about to press the button, a voice said," Maddie… Daniel?"

She stopped. We both turned around slowly. I found myself for the second time that day, looking into Vlad's cold, glaring eyes.

"What are you doing here? I exclaimed, trying to keep the shock of these last few moments hidden.

"Oh Daniel, I just wanted to have a friendly visit with Maddie," he said ," but as long as you are here, I guess we can sit down and discuss the advances Maddie has made in her research."

"Yes Danny, I can't wait to tell you about my research! And Vlad, thank you for the equipment and funding, it has helped a lot," my Mom said.

"Oh, it was my pleasure Maddie," Vlad said with a smile that made me shiver.

"Why don't we go up to the kitchen and talk," my Mom said as she led the way upstairs.

I sat at the table, dreading the upcoming conversation. It may help me know how much my mom knows about my other half, but I am sure that Vlad will try to make the discussion as painful as possible.

"Three days ago, I finished setting up a containment unit that Vlad's company gave me. It has tons of features and can bring Danny Phantom to me anytime I want! Although it has only been working at night because of a problem in the wiring, but I got that fixed this morning!

"Wait, how can you transport Danny Phantom into the containment unit by just pushing a button?" I asked.

"Not just by pushing a button, Daniel. The button activates a transporter that we planted in Danny Phantom," Vlad explained with a smug look on his face.

"What!" I exclaimed, anger rising up within me. My Mom gave me a weird look at the outburst, so I tried to cover up how angry I was about the transporter. "Umm, I mean… what… how did you plant the transporter?" I said, trying to keep calm.

"Well, Jack and I saw Phantom so we shot him with a special weapon. It shoots ectoplasm that contains the transporter. Now we don't even have to capture Phantom to run tests! He's here at a push of a button!" exclaimed Maddie.

"Isn't it great Daniel? And since it is a four day weekend and Jack, you, and Jazz are staying at my house, Maddie is free to keep Phantom here without any interruptions! I am sure you will have a lot of fun this weekend, Daniel," Vlad said with a mischievous look on his face.

"Yeah… fun," I said weakly.

"So what are the results of the tests you have run on Phantom?" Vlad asked Maddie.

"The first night I tested what was the highest temperature Phantom could withstand. He fainted of heat exhaustion after his body reached an internal temperature of 89 degrees Fahrenheit. His normal temperature is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is way higher than the temperature of any normal ghost. His temperature rose 19 degrees from his normal temperature which would normally kill a human, but he only fainted from heat exhaution. I would say he can withstand only 10 or so more degrees of heat at the most than a human," Maddie concluded.

"Interesting. You should probably test the coldest temperature Phantom can withstand tonight," Vlad said with a happy glance at me.

"I think I will. Also, I questioned Phantom last night. I used electricity as a motivation for him to talk. He seemed willing to answer some questions, but he was reluctant to tell me how he died. Maybe he will tell me tonight when I try again," Maddie finished.

By this point in the conversation, my face had turned completely white, and my stomach felt like it was doing flips. "I am going to the bathroom," I said and quickly ran to the bathroom. I ran to the toilet and got sick, memories of last night flooding my head. I sat on the cold, tile floor for a while trying to get calm. I finally left, knowing that my mother would get worried if I stayed in there too long. When I entered the kitchen Vlad and my Mom were immersed in conversation, so I told them that I was heading out for a while. Vlad gave me a suspicious look, but my Mom only told me to be back before dark. I know that Vlad probably thinks I will tell someone, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't. Besides Sam, Tuck, and Jazz are all out of town. Who did I have left to tell? That question was quickly answered.

I sat down on a bench in the park, looking up at the sky.

Enjoying my freedom.

Letting the cool breeze calm me.

The combination of the cool air blowing around me, and the events of the past two nights made me start to fall asleep. My eyelids felt heavy and I struggled to keep them open. After a minute or two, sleep overwhelmed me.

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**Sorry it is so short, I don't have any more time to write today. The quote at the beginning is for the next chapter because I had planned to get a lot farther than this today. Expect a chapter tomorrow night! I didn't have time to proof read this so if there are any mistakes please tell me. Thank you to all the people who reviewed, favorite this story, or followed it! You guys motivate me to write more often! Well, see you tomorrow!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I know this chapter is short, but I plan on putting up another chapter tomorrow, and I will try to make it longer. Enjoy the chapter!**

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The combination of the cool air blowing around me, and the events of the past two nights made me start to fall asleep. My eyelids felt heavy and I struggled to keep them open. After a minute or two, sleep overwhelmed me.

**Danny…**

**Danny…**

**Mr. Fenton! Great Gatsby Mr. Fenton! You sure are a really deep sleeper!**

"What," I mumbled, as the voice penetrated my mind, waking me up from the deep sleep I had fallen into. I opened my eyes to find Mr. Lancer's face looked down at me, illuminated in the light from the street lamp beside the bench.

"What are you doing here this late at night?" he asked.

"Um… I'm just… enjoying the fresh air while I can," I said, still in the process of waking up.

"While you can? Are you alright, Danny? You look horrible, do you need a ride home?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Um…" I said, thinking about what to do. I stared at the dark blue, starry sky, as if the stars held the answers to my 'problems. Wait… starry sky… I was supposed to be home before dark! "Mr. Lancer! What time is it?"

"It's eleven. Are you sure that you are alright?" he asked.

"I was supposed to be home before dark…" I trailed off. Did I really want to go home? I would just be teleported to the lab anyway. If I stayed here, I could talk to Mr. Lancer. I could trust him right? What if I don't tell anyone? What if it will be too late for me to tell anyone tomorrow? "Mr. Lancer, I…" I started, not completely sure of what I was going to say. In that moment I decided that I wouldn't tell him. Vlad would probably find out, and with him threatening to tell my secret to the world, and him being in charge of the equipment that was used to experiment on me, it probably wouldn't be the best idea. "I going home now, see you at school," I said and I walked out of the park.

I was reluctant to go home, but I have to keep my mom from getting too suspicious and I really don't have too much of a choice anyway. I walked down the street, sticking to the shadows. The cool night air was refreshing, and the darkness felt comforting, like a cool blanket protecting me from the events yet to come. After a while, I come up to my front door. The light was on, so my mom must be waiting for me inside, hopefully without Vlad. I opened the door slowly and took a step inside. I closed the door and was about to walk into the kitchen when my mom came running at me.

"I was so worried about you! Where were you?" she asked.

"Sorry, I fell asleep in the park," I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand," Is Vlad still here?

"No, he said it was getting late so he should go. Since he left you are going to stay here for the weekend, but I have to warn you, I will be in the lab most of the time," she said.

"Okay, I am going to go to bed now, good night," I said, finishing the conversation.

I had just turned around and started heading upstairs when she replied, "Me too, I think I will wait for tomorrow to bring Phantom into the lab."

I stopped for a moment, not knowing whether to feel relieved that I could sleep the whole night, or if I should be worried about tomorrow. I decided I should just go to sleep, so I headed towards my room. When I got to my room, I went straight for the bed. I just sat on the edge of it for a while, overwhelmed by everything that happened recently. The heat experiment. The electrocution. Vlad coming over. And I have a feeling the weekend won't be any better. But deciding that worrying wouldn't help, I laid down in bed, trying to clear my mind. I eventually fell asleep, hoping that I would wake up refreshed for the first time in two days.

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**This chapter is just a filler chapter so not much happened. Also, This chapter felt kind of rushed to me and I will try to improve on that in the next chapter. I will have that chapter out tomorrow!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here is the update as promised! And this quote is finally in the right chapter! Thank you for everyone who reviewed last chapter, it really motivated me to get this chapter done! Enjoy!**

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I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference.

-Greta Garbo

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I opened my eyes to see sunlight shining through my window, bathing my room in a golden hue. I looked at the red numbers on my clock, 11:00 showing on its black screen. I sat up and got out of bed, the wooden floor cold against my bare feet. I changed into one of my signature white t-shirts with a red circle and my blue jeans, and headed down the stairs. When I got to the kitchen, I saw my mom eating lunch.

"Hey Danny, did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did actually," I answered, feeling refreshed by the long night of sleep I had gotten.

"That's good. I am going down to the lab and I don't know when I will be back up, so you can order pizza for dinner if I am not up by then," she said, as she got up and cleaned off her dishes.

"Okay mom," I replied, forcing a smile, although I knew I would be stuck in the lab by then. She went downstairs, her footsteps fading as she went. This would probably be the last few minutes of freedom I had for a while, so I decided to go to the park again. The walk there was quiet, most people either out of town for the weekend or spending time inside with their families. When I got to the park, I instinctively went to the same bench as yesterday. I sat down and closed my eyes, listening to the squirrels rustling the branches, the bees buzzing lazily around, and the birds singing in the trees. I looked up and opened my eyes, the sun warming my face and the clear, blue sky looking down at me. It was so peaceful. No clouds in sight. I could stare at it forever. And that was the last image I saw before it was replaced by the cold, gray ceiling of the lab, the clear sky still burned in my mind. I was lying on the hard floor of the containment unit, my hands bound in what looked like handcuffs but in place of a metal chain, a rope of a glowing ectoplasm-like substance was connecting the cuffs together.

"Phantom," a familiar voice said.

"Mo-Maddie," I said, trying to cover up my mistake.

"I have another test I am going to run. I doubt it will be as bad as the heat experiment, but you never know," she said, with a certain smugness that definitely hinted that she was going to make this day as bad as she could.

She pushed a circular blue button and it started getting cold in the unit. It actually felt good for a while. It kind of felt like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. The more the temperature dropped the more invigorated I felt. After about maybe ten minutes of the temperature steadily dropping and strengthening me, I felt something change. I started to feel cold. I could feel goosebumps rising on my skin under my hazmat suit. Soon after that I started shivering. My fingers and toes started to feel numb. The temperature continued to drop, to the point it was almost unbearable. I tried to stand up, but I fell backwards hitting my head on the floor. It was so hard to move, and I was beginning to feel tired. Really tired. Didn't I hear once that if you are extremely cold you shouldn't sleep? But I was beginning to feel warm, almost… comfortable. It probably wouldn't hurt to close my eyes. I will just shut them. That's all I have to do, and this will go away right? Maybe I will be warm if I do that. It was getting so hard to think now. I didn't even have a chance to decide before darkness surrounded me.

Darkness. That is all I can see. And I can hear a distant voice talking. My mom. I feel like I am losing consciousness. All I can do is focus on the voice. Try to wake up. It is getting clearer now. I can barely make out the words.

**I intravenously gave him warm fluids. **

**Yes, I did all you said to. I warmed up the unit and gave him warm fluids. **

**It is done. He should wake up soon. **

**It was amazing though. I have never seen anything like it. He withstood the temperature drop until it almost couldn't get any lower.**

**The temperature dropped hundreds of degrees before he even experienced symptoms of hypothermia. **

**I have got to check on Phantom again, Vlad. I will call you again later. Bye.**

Silence. And then…

**Phantom. Phantom. I know you are awake now. **

I could feel her presence over me, so I opened my eyes. I looked around and saw I was on a gurney, like the ones at the hospital. I got up, stiff from how cold I had gotten, and Maddie left the containment unit and took the gurney, probably not wanting to get attacked by me. But I don't think I could ever attack her. My own mom. If only she knew. But I knew I was too afraid to tell her. Too afraid of how she would react.

She turned off the lights so I sat down in the corner of the unit, wishing my mom hadn't taken the gurney away. It was going to be a long night. Eventually I fell asleep, but it took at a few hours of sitting in the dark.

The lights came on immediately, waking me up.

"Get up Phantom," my mom said, sounding tired.

It must be early in the morning.

"I am going to question you some more, and you WILL answer. I have days to do this, so you will have to give in eventually.

Just after she said that, I felt the handcuffs around my wrists pull me towards the wall and connect to the wall, so that I was now connected to the wall like in the last questioning session. My mom came in yet again with the remote with the red button. Why does it always have to be electrocution! I already have enough problems with electrocution as it is, considering how I got my powers.

"Now, I want the answer this time. How did you die," she said calmly.

I needed to think of something quickly. What could I say…? "I died in a car crash," I answered quickly not wanting to get shocked.

"Nice try, but you can't fool me that easily. I have a lie detector built into this remote. At the bottom it tells me on a screen if you lied or told the truth. Too bad for you that it says that you lied," she stated as she pushed the red button.

Electricity coursed through me for the second time this week, making my back arch in pain. My fingernails dug into my palms, reopening the wounds from last time. Ectoplasm seeped through my fingers as my fingernails dug deeper. The electricity stopped, leaving me hanging there, gasping for breath.

"I will continue to do this until you tell me," my mom said emotionlessly, as if she hadn't just hurt me.

"Never," I answered, not able to say more than that because of how much pain I was in.

"Then I will have to keep on going," she said.

Pain immediately flooded my body, once again like a million hot knives piercing every part of my body. "LEAVE… ME… ALONE!" I screamed as loud as I could. The electricity immediately stopped.

"You want me to leave you alone. Fine, but you should think about how much more of this you can take, because it is only going to hurt you. I will be fine pushing that button every time. So I will just give you a little time to think," she said as she left the unit and turned off the lights.

All that was left was me, a bloody, sweat soaked, heap on the cold metal floor.

* * *

**I have a lot of ideas for the next chapter, so I will probably have it out this weekend but I can't promise anything. All I know is it won't take longer than this week-end to write most of it. It depends on how long I will make it. Thanks everyone, talk to you next chapter and if you have any questions about this chapter, feel free to ask.**


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